Speculators ‘May Be Finding It Difficult To Sell’
A pair of reports on the bubble markets in the southeast. “A report by the S.C. Association of Realtors confirms that coastal South Carolina is becoming a buyers’ market as some areas have seen sales declines. Hilton Head saw a 26 percent drop in sales and Charleston had a 3 percent decline, according to first quarter statistics.”
“The drop in sales is contributing to the shift to a buyers’ market, where customers will have respite from bidding wars. ‘Ultimately, we will see some leveling off and even a price decline, particularly in the condominium market,’ Jim Peters, CEO for the realtors said.”
“Peters said all markets across the state are experiencing an inventory buildup like Myrtle Beach. The drop in sales is contributing to the shift to a buyers’ market, where customers will have respite from bidding wars.”
“‘Ultimately, we will see some leveling off and even a price decline, particularly in the condominium market,’ he said. Some speculators may be finding it difficult to sell property right now, Peters said.”
“The number of Broward County, Florida, homes sold during March continued to decline, to 649 homes from 958 single-family homes sold for the same month the year before. The number of combined single-family and condo-townhouse sales in March dropped by a third to 1,418 from 2,122, while volume was $512.1 million, down 23 percent from $664.4 million.”
“The number of new listings for all property types in March rose 60 percent to 7,852 from 4,902. The total number of available single family homes and condominium-townhouses in Broward County more than tripled to 18,679 from 4,891 in March 2005.”
Thanks to the readers who sent these in.
Isn’t South Carolina the area where those jackasses from “Flip this POS” operate? This can’t be good for biz…
‘Peters said all markets across the state are experiencing an inventory buildup like Myrtle Beach.’
Blanket statements like that are unusual. Maybe some MB locals can let us know what’s going on?
They might be responsible for most of the inventory buildup themselves if the last several episodes of the show are any indication. They don’t seem to get any of the homes into escrow, but they sure have fun fixing them up!
Time to talk about the Southeast, including Atlanta
Now I can come out of lurkerdom and talk about the Atlanta market, which no one seems to talk about. 
Although I’ve lived here for 15 months and have been an Atlanta-area homeowner for a year exactly, I’m clueless as to where this market is going, except that big billboard on I-85 south in Midtown is approaching 84,000 homes for sale, the highest I’ve seen since moving here. (It stayed in the low-to-mid 70’s pretty much all last year.)
But it’s not like I’m going anywhere soon, as this place is Paradise compared to South Florida, where I escaped on Jan 29th, 2005. I sold my house (SF, 1500 sqf, 3/2, quarter acre lot) there on March 12th (remote closing from ATL, too - go figure) for $290,000, about 2.5 times what I paid for it in 1994. Just five weeks later, I bought a 3-2 SF in NE Atlanta, just outside the infamous Perimeter for $227,000. This house is 1800 sqf, sits on a three-quarter acre lot in an urban old-growth forest at the end of a cul-de-sac, and after being robbed 5 times in 5 years in FL, this area feels 1000x safer than Oakland Park, Florida ever did. So yes, I got a great deal. More house for less money, and since I recycled much of the equity out of the So. FL house into this one, I pulled a 100k 30-year fixed at 5.875 %, which can be carried on a relatively low (and single) income.
So this leads to the queston that I’ve been asking for the longest time: If average-sized homes in the bubble states are going for $400K up to a million, which puts my $290k sale to utter shame, and awesome homes can be bought in great neighborhoods around here for
Welcome Bryon, it looks like you hit the button early. Can you repeat the question?
I still have the entire post on my clipboard, but it won’t let me repost (I get the “duplicate” post message) I also tried just pasting the remainder of my post, but got the same message)
‘preciate your assistance,
B
You’ll have to re-phrase it so the system doesn’t think you are spam.
duplicate post:
$5.00 fine
Yeah, Byron.
You had me there. I was all set to hear more from you about Atlanta - and of course your question.
Apologies, your response wasn’t “up” when I sent mine…
Let’s try this again…I’ll change some of the words around to defeat the “dup” bot.
Here’s my question…lol.
Awesome homes can be bought in great neighborhoods around here for
Byron,
Congrats on getting out of FL. I too am looking to get to the ATL. I currently live in a bubble called West Palm Beach, as you are well aware. I’d like to know more about ATL’s RE market and just how bubblicious it might be. My guess is there might be some “froth” in the condo/townhome market. I hear there is a large group of young professionals in ATL and many beautiful southern belle coeds. My only friends here in WPB drive Rascals, hit the “Early Bird Special” at 3pm and are asleep by 7pm. Any info is great. Thanks and welcome to the Greatest Blog Ever.
I would not touch a condo in Atlanta right now. Highly speculative just like the coastal markets. In fact, many Atlantans have contributed to the Panhandle bubble. Single family homes continue to be driven by land prices (no secret here) and an sh*t box in-town home can be had for $400K. Outside the perimeter, if you can tolerate the traffic, there are deals to be had. I have seen a spike in reduced listings, mainly 5% reductions and think that the “selling season” will let us know what is really in store in ATL. I just signed a new LEASE, and will be looking for distressed condo owners to rent from in a year. After that, my plan is a nice in-town fixer-upper. Any ATL bubble blogs out there? It is an interesting and very large market.
Thanks. As my first home, I would prefer a condo. I am single so I do not want to spend time doing yard work. Any chance in a few years there will be 2/2 condos near Buckhead/Midtown/Downtown for about $200K? I figured the condo market (like everywhere) was a bit bubbly.
Notorious, I would like to think so. Just be prepared for taxes and HOA dues to approach $1,000/month. The newer builings are still fetching $300K for 2/2 but take a look at Buckhead Village Lofts, for instance. 2/2 can be had for $250K. These have already expeirenced a price correction from the dot.com days and there are some aggressive sellers (still overpriced IMO). Also, another interesting exercise is to search ziprealty for some of the newer tower listings, just a single address. You’ll be amazed at the inventory.
Woohoo! South Carolina condos for everyone!
Can’tcha you tell that I’m new around here….
Will try again once again….
an easy quarter million in this fair Southern city with a nice, mild climate and a diversified economy, so _why_ isn’t everyone who likes money and cheap houses and maybe a clue or 2 moving here???? You get p to $500k tax-free profit, your choice of fantastic homes, whatever you’d like - there really is a home for everyone here. 84,000 houses really is a lot to chose from - talk about your ultimate buyer’s market.
Or is this something that just hasn’t happened yet and maybe I’d better get ready for RE refugees flooding in from the bubble zones???? I really do wonder about this a lot.
Mucho gracies to anyone(s) that can help me on this vexing issue, and perhaps a few good Atlanta RE links???
But yes, I do have it good, and if it wasn’t for the %$@((* traffic, this place really could be Paradise - at least as close as you can get to it in this USA.
B
http://www.georgiahousehunters.com
http://www.ajchomefinder.com
Atlanta is a great place to live especially for families and young people. I suspect my wife and I will end up there eventually as thats all she talks about; moving to Atlanta.
Maybe Scarlett was right, the South shall rise again, but this time because of cheap housing
My friend lived in Atlanta and went to Georgia Tech, he said there were a lot of improvements for the Olympics. I drove through it once, looked pretty cool.
I am starting to wonder whether we have started to lose all sense of perspective when $250,000 seems cheap.
When I first got into the town where I now bubblesit, I first felt like a kid in a candy store… A real 3/2 house with a yard for only $275,000?! Then I realized that if I earned a local income, and didn’t have any bubble money saved up, that even that house that seemed so cheap compared to what I was used to would be completely unaffordable to me. That realization was an eye-opener to me, since I don’t know how quickly the coastal bubbles will pop and how soon the incoming cashout money will dry up. So I am renting a little house in one of the best neighborhoods here for $800/month and saving a lot, while maintaining maximum flexibility.
Yes, but now we are talking $20 for a large pizza, when I remember it less than$10, and sodas are more than a dollar, when I remeber them at less than $0.50.
The fed and its pringting press has devalued our dollar to nothing so $250,000 is ocmparatively cheap.
Simmssays…
http://www.AmericanInventorSpot.com
i mean it is expensive compared to median income.
Atlanta is probably an exception (along with Raleigh) because it has a robust, diverse economy, but a lot of places in the southeast where home prices are rising due to bubble money do not pay well.
…Pizza. $9.99 x-tra large special at Dominos, “Kong” size big meat pizza at Papa Johns, etc. Pizza’s are just as cheap now as when I was in college (80-84). Lots of competition. Of course, if you want a really good pizza, not from a chain, then your $20 call is about right.
This is a great point and one I realized a few years ago (& thus sold my San Diego home). Besides all the other reasons (interest rate hikes, ARM resets, over supply, etc.), I knew at some point the market would simply just run out of buyers at the low end. In San Diego it takes $500K just to buy a crappy little house. The bubble was sustained only by people pushing the bottom end up and once that foundation of buyers is priced out, everything will crumble. Only those with bubble money to recycle into higher prices were keeping the bubble alive. My other rational test was to ask yourself, if I didn’t have bubble money, could I afford to buy my own house. Usually the answer is no. So who will be able to buy once all the bubble wealthy are out of the market. No one! Prices will have to come down.
depends on the color of your skin. I have white and black friends that have given me very different portraits of the area. And each are from similar socio-economic backgrounds so they’re starting from a level playing field there.
Ben: “Peters said all markets across the state are experiencing an inventory buildup like Myrtle Beach.”
If this is true, it’s pretty scary. The 29577 Myrtle Beach zip code has about 17,000 housing units and 2793 of them are for sale.
I’m sure Suzanne can sell ‘em though.
Suzanne researched this!
Myrtle Beach condos for everyone!!!
Couldn’t resist
How about a movie “Escape from LA 2″ in which a middle class couple cash out big time equity from selling their house in LA before the market drops big time. They travel around the US in a RV dodging RE brokers trying to sell them a house since they are considered “rich”.
For us who live in So. Cal. it really is crazy what you can get for under 300K in Atlanta and if you want to go to 400K forget it, you can get a beautiful home in a nice area on a nice sized lot. In west LA, 400 get may get you a dumpy old 2 bedroom condo. The thing that is really the kicker is the median income in Atlanta is higher than LA.
Also there are several other cities in the south and midwest with very affordable homes and alot of amenities to offer such as Charlotte,Nashville, Lexington ,KY pretty much any southern state till you get to Florida.
But LA has nice weather
LA might have nice weather, but don’t forget about the lung burning smog. I would take the hotter/cooler weather at this point, over that crime-ridden, drug plagued, stinky, smoggy, ugly concrete of a jungle that is known as Los Angeles. I have already done 5 years in hell there. No more. And don’t forget the traffic where you go about 2 miles every hour. And have to live 50 miles + to find what passes as affordable housing (or hosing) in Riverside/San Bernadino. I hope everyone waves goodbye to Arnold and the legislature (pants down, bent over) on your way out of Clownifornia.
Southern California is GREAT and if I could AFFORD a good lifestyle for my family I would never leave. But that’s the point…affordability. It only works there if you are 1) Very well off, or 2) Young and living with room-mates (oh my glory days in the condo at the beach in Coronado). However, now with a wife, 2 kids, dog, cat and bubble money…I agree with you, I’m OUT of there (but still wishing to go back….”California Dreaming”). Don’t give other locations an unrealistic “rosy” picture until you live there. Everyplace has it’s down-side.
I was in San Diego for vacation in 2002, then I made a weekend trip up to LA. The traffic was insane! Luckily I had another person with me so I was cruising in the HOV lane. I used to commute 1.5hr a day in Chicago, but LA traffic was 10x worse than Chicago.
I did like the beach side communities like Venice Beach, Huntington Beach etc and Pacific Beach and Ocean beach in San Diego, a lot better than Florida ones like Ft lauderdale, Deerfield beach etc. A lot more young people and things do to.